Mentoring
Small Business Mentoring
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” ~Chinese Proverb
The best decision I ever made with regard to improving the financial performance of my business was to hire a mentor who had actually achieved the results I desired in my own business. My mentor, coach, consultant, whatever you want to call it, gave me focus and tools necessary to get to where I knew I wanted to go.
You too can benefit greatly from a mentor relationship. The key is to find a mentor or coach who has “walked in your shoes” and understands the unique challenges that small business owners face. Beware of the coach with credentials that boast of their corporate training and experience. While those are great attributes for corporate coaching and consulting, these are red flags for small business owners. Only a mentor or coach who has had extensive experience running their own business is really qualified to counsel other small business owners. I speak from experience having hired a coach some years ago who had a remarkable, corporate heavy, resume but very little personal experience with small business operations.
After 17 years of owning my own marketing and graphic design firm I learned a lot about the distinct challenges faced by solo entrepreneurs and small business owners, both through my own experience and through the experience of a good many of my clients. In 2006, I decided to create a program to help small business owners move beyond these hurdles and move toward having a successful business and having a life! Of course, I had to trial the program so I started with myself and saw some remarkable results. Then I trialed with a client and they too began to move beyond many of the barriers that had kept them stuck for years. That’s when I decided to work toward my coaching certification and start helping other small business owners make the switch from struggling, worrying, stressing and fearing to motivation, action and results.
